College admission rates are declining, and prices are skyrocketing. There are so many expectations resting on the shoulders of today’s teens—not only from colleges, but from parents. It’s only natural for them to want their children to do well. However, their subtle hints of a future career in the medical field can sometimes be a bit overwhelming.

“You know they have expectations, and you put the pressure on yourself to fulfill them,” says junior Audrey Nguyen. Parents instill the desire for a better future into their children, but the hard work and perseverance comes from the student. You have to want to do well in order to succeed. That is why most kids sign up for AP classes, do sports, and are active within their school community. They want the college acceptance letter for themselves and, sometimes, for their parents too.

But the pressure for success that you put on yourself can be overwhelming. Oftentimes I find myself caught up in some assignment or another, drowning in my own almost impossible expectations (which most people I know can attest to.) I want to do well, and I want that successful future my parents see for me, but sometimes I feel as if it’s too much. Colleges want a lot from us: club activities, leadership positions, and athletics, not to mention a killer GPA and a load of money to pay tuition with. I just have to put it all into perspective, and hope that in the end, I will reap the benefits.

Written by Hayley Petersen

I just submitted my first college application ever tonight. It’s the strangest feeling. Like I just clicked a magic button that ripped out a little piece of my soul and sent it flying away to God knows where. I put so much work into that app—six beautiful essays, all showing off a little bit of me to a bunch of admissions people I’ll never meet. In their cozy little admissions office. Over three thousand miles away. In Massachusetts. Sipping their stupid coffee and toying with my future while I freak out more and more with each passing day… Scumbags.

When you pour your heart and soul into something for over a month (I know, what a long time!) it’s hard to let it go so easily. I can’t count how many times I rewrote those essays. Who knew it could be so hard to say something of value in 250 words or less? Nothing feels quite so pleasant as spending two hours writing one paragraph, only to realize that you have no idea what you’re saying and that “I believe in America” makes you sound like a fake (I’m looking at you, Mitt). …And back to square one!

Essays are hard. Like, really hard. Try not to sweat the details, Quan, just write and fix it later. Oh yeah, I’ll just fix this one little…—What goes better with this sentence: a semi-colon or a dash? Should I use “magenta” or “pink” here? Does this sound right: “The countless hours of bacchanalian festivities did a number on my exhausted mind; my thoughts were in such a tizzy that”—Oh shoot, that’s already 253 words?! THE COLLEGE PEOPLE ONLY ALLOW 250! Funny, that’s a lot of independent clauses. Maybe I’m “clause-trophobic”?

Why are these app forms so confusing?! How do I even fill this out? Does “certified spiff-master” count as a non-academic honor? Should I abbreviate Math Engineering Science Achievement, or am I overestimating how pretentious that sounds? I took journalism twice, is it an extracurricular or a class? This blank space bothers me why are my responses getting cut off how many hours a week do I volunteer I only have 50 hours officially should I say more I don’t even… SHUT UP MOM I CAN’T FOCUS—Wait no I didn’t mean that! Mom! Please don’t stop cooking for us…

It’s only been three weeks, and I’ve already gotten so tired. I’m just resting my eyes…—Ack! I’m being chased by monster admissions officers armed to the teeth with rejection letters and MIT pennants! Oh look, I just tripped over a senioritis-infected zombie…I wonder how my brain tastes (smart, I hope!). And here come the financial aid people to suffocate me with stacks of fee waivers ohmygodohymgodohmygod. They were supposed to save me from drowning in bills… What was that Mrs. Daniels? Phagocytosis? …what? No, I swear I wasn’t sleeping! Please don’t call my parents!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m totally sane. Maybe I stress a little too much, and maybe I lose my head having nightmares about scary college people. But I’m human, just like everyone else. I just want the best possible result, that’s all. On the bright side, I’ve already finished one app. At least that one’s off my chest.

Only nine more to go.

Written by Quan Nguyen

It’s not that I don’t like that our school’s passion for football; in fact, I enjoy all the hype and the build-up to Battle of the Bell. It is probably the most popular and exciting game of the year. At the game, people certainly seemed to be very spirited and they seemed proud to be from Mesa or associated with Mesa.

On Monday though, I was taken aback by all the posters, not just in the Senior Quad and all the other regular places, but even on the ground. I thought to myself, “They do know that these posters aren’t even going to last a day, right?”

I mean, ASB has put a lot of work into their posters in previous years, but I don’t remember it being this extravagant. I thought, well if I saw the whole school cheering my team and me on, I would probably enjoy it. But I started to wonder, why don’t they do this with every other team? I’ve never seen giant posters, much less posters on the ground for soccer. I’m only speaking for the sport that I play, but I don’t recall that same kind of attention for any other sport either. I understand that Battle of the Bell creates a lot of revenue for our school and that is why it gets so much publicity, but it would be nice if the other sports got some as well

When I saw the little Eagle drawings on the floor I was also surprised. I could not step on them, or even look at them. This might seem kind of ridiculous to some people, but it’s just the way I feel. I’m a vegetarian so the idea of stepping on an animal is so wrong to me. I know that they are meant to build up our school spirit and for all of us to cheer “Yeah, go Mesa! Stomp on those Eagles!” But in my head I’m thinking, “Oh no, I almost stepped on that little paper bird! That was so close!” Maybe I’m too sensitive, but when I walked by those posters on the ground by the ASB office, I tried so hard not to cringe. I don’t like to waste paper, so the fact that I had to step on all this paper upset me.

I recommend saving some of these posters. Perhaps ASB should invest in making a big banner that they can use every single year. I like our school spirit. There’s no denying that we have tons. I would just prefer not to step in paper or animals from now on.

People tend to have pride in organizations that they are part of. Here at CMHS that is especially true. During such events as Battle of the Bell, homecoming, or any other sports event you will find countless posters promoting the event. While most of the school has plenty of school pride, there are those who do not want to see posters or fliers of any type. While I do not disdain them or dismiss their beliefs entirely, I do believe there should be posters at our school.

It is a fact that certain people put an extraordinary amount of time into decorating the school with these posters that some people complain about. I would like to see the complainers wake up when there isn't a ray of sunshine out and come to school at 4 AM to decorate, like the cheerleaders did the day of Battle of the Bell. I say only this because it seems that most of the people who are against school spirit advertisement are those who do not care much about our school and don’t put in the time to contribute to it. If these people aren't willing to take the initiative to do something that is beneficial for the community then they shouldn't be pressing down on those who do put in the effort.

Secondly: when has every single student at CMHS had every single event of the year memorized? I think it’s safe to say that the posters help a large portion of the students know when and where events such as class dinners are. If there was a way to contact everyone through a microchip installed in our brains, that would be great, but to my knowledge that technology doesn’t exist. That’s what posters are for. Not everyone has a Facebook either, so posters are our best bet. It would be sad, but a bit humorous, if very few kids showed up to events merely because they were not aware of them.

Granted, the posters and fliers do make a mess every time but unless you haven’t noticed you will always find a responsible student or staff member that will take the responsibility to clean it up. In my six years of experience at Costa Mesa High School and Middle School, the mess tends to be caused by students who have no respect for the people who make the posters and put the work into promoting the school’s spirit.

During a much darker era in our nation’s history, a wise man by the name of Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “A man that will not die for something is a man that is not fit to live.” Now while the quote is a bit extreme for this case, the message is still the same: if you are not willing to take do a small task for something, something as small and simple as your own school, then what shall you do anything for?

Written by Eduardo Hernandez

SAT prep courses and materials are valuable resources for getting a high score on the test. They are relatively easy to find but the problem is, not everyone has the money for it.

It might be easier to do this...

Taking the SAT seems to be easier when you have taken a prep course or have a prep book to go along with it. But there are students who don’t have the money or time to get or go to these things. Even if someone is a great student, they may not get as high a score as the guy whose parents paid for a year-long class and all the books he needed.

It’s very unfair that students are being treated unequally when it comes to taking the tests. For those who can’t afford everything, they have to rely on what they learn in class and what some others could tell them about taking it. This is really a matter of how well-off your family is rather than how smart you are.

For example, take the Outsmart the SAT Bootcamp that is being offered to students at CMHS. The class only goes for one weekend and costs $165. That’s a very short amount of time with costs that a lot of people cannot and sometimes are not willing to pay.

...with a lot of this.

Not only do prep classes cost money, there's still the issue of paying for the test itself. Sometimes people get a bad score the first time around, take it again, and then get a better score that would help them with college applications. Some students cannot afford to take the test more than once and have to settle with whatever score they get the first time. I always find it's easier to take a test the second time because you know what to expect and how much you need to study. Trial and error is very important and not being able to experience it more than once could be very detrimental.

A student’s wealth should not be the deciding factor for how well they do on a test. Students should all be offered free help for the SAT with teachers who know the subjects very well. This would benefit everyone and could increase the SAT scores by a large amount.

Written by Maya Lee-Lopez

Wednesday October 3rd kicked off the first of the series of Presidential Debates between Republican candidate Mitt Romney and Democratic candidate Barack Obama. The Governor of Massachusetts and the current President verbally battled over such topics as the economy and healthcare. President Obama looked tired and weary, and polls showed that this didn’t help the Democratic candidate. However, the Democratic candidate was the one to actually elaborate on his policies and what he would do in office. He promised to create more opportunities for education, invest in teaching and energies, and continue with his “Obamacare,” a term coined by the Republican Party to describe Obama’s universal health care plan, which the President now uses as a term of endearment. He made almost no change to his previous policies, supporting new energies and education, wanting instead to continue on his path and move forward with what he left off; his campaign slogan is “Forward” after all.It was hard to understand both candidates of course, but if you take the time to sit down and analyze their language, you’ll understand that Obama was using it to make his words sound eloquent and to help make his ideas sound better to the public, while Romney used it to cover up that, during almost the entirety of the debate, he was just attacking the President’s previous term. Although many would agree that Romney brought more confidence and empathy to his performance, his decorum and use of the rhetorical appeals just covers up the fact that he has no clear plan. He did make a few things clear, though. He promised to create new markets and help small businesses, and to repeal Obamacare.

Courtesy of http://www.pink-moss.com

Controversy and laughter did come at certain moments, of course. Obama’s remark to moderator Jim Lehrer about having “5 seconds before you interrupted me” and Romney’s comment about how much he “loves Big Bird” while talking about cutting funding to NBC brought a little comic relief. Both candidates’ resistance to staying within the allotted time period, and Romney’s stuttering and the fact that he cut off Jim Lehrer so many times was a source of criticism among viewers.Surprisingly, Obama refrained from mentioning Romney’s Bain Capital controversy, which has to do with the question of whether or not he paid all of his taxes while working at the multimillion dollar corporation, while Romney took the opportunity to point out all of the things that went wrong in the past four years. However, Obama did shake down Romney’s plan to privatize health insurance and the fact that he changed his economic policy regarding tax cuts.Personally, I agree with Obama’s policies more than Romney’s; Obama has a more community oriented background than Romney, who studied business. Romney wants to cut taxes among the corporations by 25%, stating that “corporations are people too,” in an earlier speech. This would put a strain on middle class America. His policy to repeal Obamacare, the universal health care plan that would help out people with preexisting conditions and others who would generally be rejected by private insurance companies would cause more harm than good. The previous presidential terms have been some of the worst we’ve ever seen as a country; you can’t fix the mistakes of a decade in 4 years. The policies on other controversial issues, such as gay marriage, abortion, immigration, and environmental issues differ greatly between the candidates, and hopefully they will be dictated out at the debates to come.The coming month is the time where undecided voters should sit down and look at the facts; hopefully, rationale would enable them to come to the right decision, whatever that may be.